When Water Met Fire
by Child Of Old
Summary: Decca has killed two monsters, been dragged to camp half blood and met Percy Jackson. And STILL her mum hasn't come to claim her. She also has strange powers, abilties and a frankly alarming crush on Percy. Plus she's about to be sent on a quest that she can only complete with Percy, Annabeth and her mums help. Or she dies. If only her mum would reveal herself, that'd be great...


"I'm scared." I muttered, practising my scared face in the mirror. "I'm," I tried again. "Scared. I am scared." 

My face refused to oblige, and the mirror started laughing at me. 

"You're fooling nobody honey." It squeaked at me. 

I glared at my reflection. 

"Shut up." I snapped, then realised how freaky this was. I groaned and scraped a hand over my face. "This is so weird. I'm talking to a mirror." 

The mirror 'mmhm'-ed me in a sassy black woman way. 

"Uh uh, honey. This mirror is talkin' to _YOU_." 

"Shut up." I snapped at it again, backing up and flopping onto the bed I'd been provided with. "Just...shut up." 

The mirror sassed me again, and I stared at my reflection miserably. 

"I'm suppose to be _SCARED_." I told it. "And I can't even pull a scared expression." 

"Honey, why ya gotta be scared?" The mirror enquired. 

I now looked at my reflection incredulously. The girl in the mirrors eyes went wide. She was pale, her blue-green eyes wide, her hair a dark cloud around her head. But she just looked exhausted, not scared. 

"I'm suppose to be scared because in the last," I consulted my watch. "Twelve hours I've been attacked by harpies, a minator, killed both, was then forced to leave my father (the only person I truly _TRUST_) and ended up here- at camp half blood." I gestured around violently with my arms, conscious of the flabby skin even though I was only talking to a mirror. "And _THEN—_oh yes, there's more— they kept interrogating me on who my mother is. As if I know!" I flopped right back on my bed now, giving up on everything. I was tired. 

"So?" The mirror was unsympathetic. "And why exactly are you suppose to be scared?" 

"Because I don't KNOW this world." I burst out. "I don't _KNOW_ the monsters here, the people here, this is a disruption to my routine." 

"Yes." The mirror sounded thoughtful. "I had heard you had Aspergers Syndrome. A mild form of autism, isn't it?" 

I peeked up at it from my 'flopped' position. 

"For a mirror you know your stuff." I complimented it grudgingly. 

If it had shoulders, I had no doubt it would have shrugged it modestly. 

"Well, I have too. Around here we've had everything, mostly ADHD and dyslexia. But you have neither, right?" 

I nodded, groaning, rubbing the back of my head against the blanket. 

"I'm a black sheep in a black sheep herd. I'm a purple sheep. PURPLE!" Okay, maybe I was getting _slightly _hysterical. 

"I would think you weren't a demigod if you hadn't got kick ass magic and killed a shit load of monsters." The mirror, I could have sworn, nodded a bit. 

"_THIS_ is why I should be scared!" I sat back up again. "For fucks sake, I'm talking to a mirror!" 

"Hey!" The mirror chirped back indignantly. "I say again; this mirror is talking to you. And what's wrong with talking to a mirror?" 

I would have answered (probably something horribly rude and mirror-ist) but at that moment there was a knock on the cabin door. 

I narrowed my eyes on the mirror. 

"I'll be back for you." I warned it as I was standing up. The mirror just chuckled, clearly not all that scared. Stupid freaking mirrors. 

I went to the door and opened it grumpily, expecting to see one of the tribe (sorry, camp) leaders there to yet again interrogate me on my parentage. 

However, I was pleasantly surprised. Instead, on my porch, stood a tall man with floppy, brown hair, sweet face and the bluest, sea blue eyes. 

"Um, hi." I mumbled. 

"Who is it?" the mirror yelled. "Is it the window cleaner guy again? If so, bring him in. I wanna have some words with him about NOT staring at a mirrors—" 

"Are you the window cleaner guy?" I interrupted quickly, whilst the guy in the porch looked slightly bemused. "Please don't say you're the window cleaner guy." 

The man summoned up a grin from somewhere—surely he was used to this sort of stuff?— and shook his head at me. 

"Actually no." Mmm, nice voice. Like Zac Efron but so much sexier. _Focus, Decca._ "Actually, I'm Percy Jackson, Poseidon's son." 

Well, shit. 

Awkwardly, with a strained smile, I lent against the door, slipped then hastily had to right myself. 

"Um, hi. I was only joking," I laughed awkwardly, stuttered to a stop, then tried again. "Only joking bout the window man." 

"Yeah, forget about it." He waved it away with one hand. "I just came over to see how you were doing." 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm...I'm fine." I was desperately trying to figure out how to get out of this situation.

He was Poseidon's son! I'd heard of him already in the brief history lesson I'd got earlier. Jesus, he could hurt me! Kill me! I was _so_ dead. I might as well have saved him the trouble by offing myself just to save myself this humiliation. 

He was laughing, shaking his head. Why was he laughing? Was this his I'm-going-to-condemn-you-then-kill-you laugh? 

"Wow. In all the fuss nobody told me you were British." 

"Yup, British, English, English me." What the fuck was I going on about? 

"Why are you acting fucking crazy?!" the mirror yelled at me. 

We both ignored it. 

"Look, anyway, I just wanted to make sure you're okay. I know how scary it is to first arrive here, and what with you being completely alone and everybody going crazy over you and acting like total asshats I just-" he cut himself off, smiling ruefully. 

"Yeah." I smiled back weakly. "Scared." 

"She's not actually scared you know!" the mirror yelled. "She was just saying that! And she's worried about her mental state BECAUSE she's not scared. I think if you want to help her, you should scare her. I think that would be helpful." 

Percy leaned towards me with an amused grin in his face. Automatically, I leaned back, not liking people I didn't know in my personal space. But when he looked faintly wounded, I leaned into him. Did my breath smell? 

"Do you wanna get out of here?" He whispered to me. "It's dark, most people are in their cabins and it's pretty quiet. Might give you some..." He glanced around the doorway at the mirror before quickly retreating. Smart boy. "Thought time. I can show you around, if you like, or stay silent. Y'know, whatever." 

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO WHISPERING ABOUT?!" the mirror yelled. 

"Ohmygawd, yes please." I hissed back, already hopping into the porch with him. "I'm just going for a walk, mirror. Don't wait up!" 

I shut the door sharply behind me, before beaming up at my saviour. 

"My hero." I sighed over dramatically, now not sure what to do with myself and resorting to treating him like I would my friends back home. Was that wrong?

Would I get smited? 

He laughed and stepped forward. I followed him. 

"That's what they call me." he shrugged false-modestly.

-0-

We strolled along the warm pathways. It was such a nice, warm night with the full moon out and bathing us in its glow. I felt comfortable for the first time since I'd arrived in this strange place. I felt comfortable with a _stranger_, which was weirder still. I didn't remember that ever happening.

"I hear you don't have ADHD." He commented casually as we strolled after a long time of silence. "Or dyslexia." 

"Nope." I shook my head, avoiding his eyes. Why did I feel ashamed of that? "Just plain old mild Aspergers for me." 

"Don't you have trouble reading though?" Percy was perplexed. "English or ancient Greek?" 

"No." I smiled. This at least gave me an edge. I was comfortable with this, after the fascination and amazement the leaders had given me on first hearing this news when I'd first arrived. "I can read both really easily." 

"Oh." Percy didn't press me, unlike the others had, which made me happy. No, I didn't know why. He just moved on. "What about battle reflexes? You took down two monsters!" 

"Yeah, that wasn't exactly easy but I could still do it." 

We strolled along. It was a really nice. The lights in all the cabins were bright along our pathway. Laughter and chatter spilled out of them, bloodied weapons left out on the verandas. Porches. Whatever. I wished I was sharing my cabin with somebody. Despite what most people thought, because of my Aspergers, I actually liked interacting with people. I just didn't know how. Or do it very well. 

"So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" I asked Percy spontaneously.

_Why did I ask that?!_

He didn't give me a strange look, which I appreciated. 

"Nope, just me." He admitted cheerfully. "What about you?" 

I nodded, then shook my head, then nodded again. _What the hell was wrong with me?!_

"Yes, a little sister. Emmy. Mortal. I think. Hope. My dad married again when I was four, and had Emmy when I was six. My step mother is the only mother I've ever known."

"Is she nice? Will she come visit you when your dad does? Most people round here had horrible step parents, you see." He explained.

We turned down a path, then in the distance I could see the sea glittering in the distance, the full moon glimmering in it's reflection.

"No, I love my step mother. Loved." I corrected myself wistfully. "She passed away five years ago when I was twelve. Emmy was six."

"Oh." Percy looked stricken. Why did that make me happy? Was I a sick person? Quite possibly. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." I rushed to tell him, but I wasn't sure why. It's just what I heard my dad saying when other people had said that. "She didn't suffer much."

He had nothing to say to that so we walked on in silence. But it was a nice silence. A companionable silence. One that made me feel like I wasn't alone. He was good-looking, but nice. Thoughtful. Not interrogating me but still making me feel listened too, like I mattered. Like I wasn't being pushed around because of who my mum was or what I could do.

We had arrived in front of a wooden cabin. Wide, and spacious, it looked out over the sea. It was idyllic. Perfect. Quiet apart from the wind chimes that softly jingled as we approached. Like they were welcoming us.

_Okay, now I've officially gone absolutely crazy_.

"So, this is me." Percy swept an arm towards the cabin.

"Oh." Did I need to go now? Was this a dismissal?

"Its just me here." He approached it and went inside.

Did I follow?

"C'mon!" He called from inside. "You have to see this!"

Okay then, guess I follow.

Carefully I climbed up into the wooden cabin and spotted Percy vanishing down a jetty.

I didn't want to follow. I wanted to look around, be nosy, inspect that...fuck, what WAS that? It looked like a head...on top of a trident...

Percy appeared suddenly next to me when I would have investigated further my new discovery. I was staring at it with sick fascination, my hands reaching out as if to graze it with my finger tips.

"Don't touch that." He murmured. "It could hurt you."

He cared. At least, it sounded like he did. That was nice, right? Even though he probably cared about everybody...

"Okay, come see this." He caught my hand and began leading me down, across the jetty.

I couldn't stop staring at the moon, glittering and glimmering on the waters surface.

"Here." We stopped at the end of the jetty. Salty air filled my nostrils. I felt...powerful. Why did I feel the power I had felt whilst killing the monsters suddenly now? God. Maybe I was scared.

I inspected my feelings. Nope, not fear. Weirded out, maybe. But no fear.

"Isn't it gorgeous?" He breathed, oblivious to my internal turmoil.

"Yes." I said, then hoped he'd say no more because I wanted to enjoy this moment. The power. The silence. The sea. The man.

_SHUT UP ABOUT THE MAN._

We stood there for a few minutes, before once again he took my hand and led me into sitting down. I dipped my toes in the water. I trailed my finger tips over the reflection of the moon. The power was instantaneous. I felt it surge, overwhelm me. But, before I could do anything, it subsided.

"You honestly have no idea who your mother is?" Percy whispered into the silence.

I glanced at him, annoyed. And something else. Was this fear? Maybe. Fear of what?

_What was wrong with me, questioning everything? _I was starting to make my own head spin.

"No. My dad never said who she was when I asked. He probably won't tell your leaders if you were wondering."

"Leaders?" He laughed softly. "I suppose that's what they are. Head of camp, though, that tends to be their real name. But still, you're right. I was wondering."

He had kept hold of my hand, and now he squeezed my hand tightly.

"She'll come for you, you know." He told me softly, finally, as if he _knew _what I was thinking. How could he know? "They all do. They have too now. She probably has a good reason why she hasn't come forward already. You don't have to worry."

But I was worried.

"Do you really think she'll come forward?" Did I sound too hopeful? 

Was that why I was scared? Was I scared my mum wouldn't want me, wouldn't come for me?

No. No, no, no, no. NO! I didn't need her. I only needed my dad.

"Yeah, I do." He squeezed my hand again. He knew. He just _knew _I needed him to tell me that. To reassure me. Because nobody else bloody was.

The silence was interrupted by a sudden high pitched screaming, yelling and loud thumping music. Dance lights reflected a little way further up the shore in another cabin, a larger one than Percy's.

"Oh god." Percy groaned. "The Aphrodite cabin are throwing a party. Again. Sometimes I wish my cabin wasn't so closed to theirs." He helped me up as he amended himself. "Well, I always wish that."

"Are they all like that?" I asked, thinking of the stereotypes. Surely not? 

His lips twitched.

"Yeah, most of them. All apart from one, as far as I know. Piper. You'll like her. But forget that now. C'mon, I'll walk you home. You'll need the sleep for tomorrow."

"What?" I looked up at him, startled. "Why?"

He just chuckled darkly.

"You'll see."

_Oh god_.

-0-

_**So what does everybody think? Review if you think I should continue, I know this isn't my best piece of work considering that I wrote it on my ipod during Eurovision but please let me know. And who do you think is Decca's mum? Review and let me know that too!**_


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